Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

Not gonna lie probably the worst job I can think of in the Luftwaffe. “Hey. Hans. Go fly in the pilot melter 9000. Try not to crash. You’ll melt.”

You know it's dangerous when the WW2 Japanese military decided "nah, that thing is too dangerous."

Ah yes, the accidental suicide rocket. but you don't crash in to anything, you just catch fire and fucking explode.

Here are some of the things that could happen to you on this plane. Start up rocket: suddenly blows up Starting to take off: suddenly blows up Actually taking off: gear drops and bounces back into plane causing it to crash and suddenly blow up In flight: mixture of fuel can burn your eyes or fog up the entire cockpit Landing: suddenly blows up Landing roughly : if not carefully can snap your spine Landing: if containers for fuel is busted it will literally melt you. It was a truly a wunder how Germany thought this was a great idea.

I read of one accident of an Me 163 which exploded during takeoff. The only remains of the pilot was one thigh bone which had been blasted clean of any flesh. I did read the autobiography of a German pilot who flew the Me-163. One day coming in to land he misjudged his approach and realised he was going to pass through the fuel depot where all the tanks of C-Stoff and T-Stoff were being stored. He rolled the 163 onto its wing and closed his eye. After a few seconds, and no sudden load explosion, he opened them again and realising he had passed between the tanks he made. He managed to make a successful landing. His squadrons motto was "only a flea, but oh what a flea." After the war the British did some experiments with these engines and discovered that passing the two fuels through a silver coated mesh solved the instability problem.

There was also the Me 263, which was basically an improved version of the Komet that was slightly larger but faster, had its own retractable landing gear, and a nearly twice as long endurance in flight. Only 3 prototypes were created and only one of those ever flew.

One bullet from the enemy hitting your 163 Komet and that could easily shatter the glass/enamel tanks or aluminum tanks and spill all over you melting you alive. This literally happened to pilots and has been recorded. One case a Luftwaffe pilot made an emergency crash landing due to a ruptured lines or something; when the people on the ground ran to the crash landing scene only to see the pilot basically dissolved alive and gooey/jelly remains. They quickly closed off the crash scene not wanting everyone to see what happened to the pilot...

One amazing test pilot who flew the Komet was Hannah Reisch. She was also one of the last pilots to fly out of Berlin when it was surrounded by the Soviets in 1945. 👍🏽

That landing gear bouncing away (purposeful or not) at 6:16 just fills me with all kinds of confidence.

Great video as always. My only criticism is that you omitted any mention of Hanna Reitsch. She tested the Me 163 and was badly injured during the testing. She was awarded the Iron Cross (first class) as a result and this might have been a nice link to your earlier video on the medal.

Remember the time the Luftwaffe tried to drop an anvil on Churchill during the Blitz? Or painting a picture of a cliff on Remagen bridge and call it a day?(Shermans drove right through the painting, but for panzers that counterattacked, it turned into a cliff)?

To add to the fuel scarsity, it was also used on the catapults that started of the V1 flying bomb.

the puns are like icing on a delicious cake

Aww, Wile E. Coyote, super genious, which is genious to add Wile in this video, Warner Brothers will thank you for this. Take care, and all the best.

Thanks Johnny for your in detail about the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet The Komet’s rocket engine used a propellant called C-Stoff, combining methanol and hydrazine hydrate. The C-Stoff was oxidized with a hydrogen peroxide–based solution called T-Stoff and is still used today in satellites and many more things...... Old F-4 2 Shoe🇺🇸

The puns at the end are pretty volatile, and why i keep watching till the end. =P I also had to laugh at the camera strapped to the helmet of the pilot @5:40. :D

I love that the first JATO aircraft was an Erco Ercoupe. Those were "flying cars" with no rudder pedals, all flight controls were linked through the yoke, the 65 hp engine wasn't known for speed or performance but could run on unleaded mogas in a pinch. They were available for purchase at Sears.

Possibly your best vid yet, love your content, keep it coming 👍👍👍

Glad you did a video on this one, one of my favorite planes!

Kudos Johnny! Great work as per usual!